New statistics show both the proportion of BME 15- to 17-year-olds sentenced to custody and those remanded is rising.
In 2003/04, black young people constituted 2.7 per cent of the 10- to 17-year-old population, but in the same year 10.2 per cent of 15- to 17-year-olds sentenced to custody were black. This figure rose to 13.1 per cent in 2008.
Shadow justice minister David Burrowes said the increase showed a failure to address entrenched social issues in a number of communities.
"The sad reality is these young people in custody are very likely to go back in, so the over-representation continues within a system that is failing young people and communities," he said.
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